Kim Jong Il faces a difficult problem? Either opens up the country to the outside world
or face starvation for his people and a possible revolt against his authority. It’s not an easy choice, and he has to be a little worried.
Reports about food shortages in the north started appearing in the newspapers in late 1993 and now defectors from the north are saying that the food riots are becoming more and more common as people are desperate for food. Most experts think that Kim Jong Il’s government will fall if he cannot find a way to feed the people.
During the early 1990s Kim and his father before him tried to solve the problem by telling the people that eating too much was unhealthy and that the best way to live was to eat only two meals a day. But the food shortage is now more serious than ever.
One of the reasons for the new crisis is that North Korea can no longer depend on China for food aid. Because of a bad grain harvest in China in 1994, the Chinese government banned shipments of grain out of the country. That was the worst possible news for North Korea, because since 1992 North Korea had been getting 80 percent of its grain from China.
According to defectors, some people are being executed for committing robberies out of hunger. The food shortage in the North has turn into a serious social problem.
The obvious solution to the North’s problems seems to be very simple. The government has to open up to the outside world by allowing free movement in and out of the country through tourism and trade with foreign countries.
But the problem with that solution is that Kim Il spent decades lying to the people about how rich they were compared to the South. So by allowing the free movement of people and information in and out of the country, North Korean citizens will find out that their leaders have been lying to them. That would almost certainly downfall to the government. So what is Kim Jong Il going to do about the food crisis? He has to feed the
people to keep them happy, but he has no money to buy any food. If he opens up he country in order to get the money, the people will find out that they’ve been lied to, and then they might revolt. Kim Jong Il must have trouble sleeping at night.
